Four Tet On The Music Industry: “Maybe It’s The Most Exciting Time Ever”

Four Tet has been the recording moniker of the prolific Kieren Hebden for almost 13 years now. With such an extended time working in the industry, Hebden has certainly had the time to formulate a few ideas about the business and the impact of trends. While Hebden has flirted with various genres and styles over the course of his career, he maintains that his process when it comes to creating a record is static.

“I want to make music that’s relevant now in terms of communicating to people and people enjoying it and touching them in that moment,” Hebden said. “But in terms of fitting into current genres and the music business as a whole, it’s much more important to me that it looks good in the history of music and in the future than it does now.”

While Hebden has enjoyed longevity in the music business, he acknowledges that that’s a luxury not afforded to many artists.

“[The music industry cashes] in on acts as fast as they can because they’re scared. You don’t hear about record companies signing bands and being like, ‘Oh, on their sixth album we’ve got to do something special.'”

Despite a certain cynicism regarding the business side of things, Hebden still finds it an exhilarating time to be working.

“Everything about the way things are done now is quite bazaar. But maybe it’s brilliant. Maybe it’s the most exciting time ever.” [Aux]